Well, the most anticipated weekend trip is now over: London!! Home of the Royal Wedding, David Beckham, Harry Potter, the Queen, Love Actually, and Emma Watson - doesn't get much better than that!
And the weekend definitely lived up to the hype. It started at 506 AM (let me emphasize AM) when I frantically woke up to my alarm realizing that I pressed snooze one too many times and had 9 minutes to get myself and my things ready to leave. Talk about a way to start the morning. Once I had made it to the lobby (while still putting my hair up and shoving things in a bag), we started walking to the train station where we realized it was taking a bit longer than we thought to catch our 537 train, and we finished by RUNNING to the platform from about half a mile away with bags flying and sweat pouring down my face. We jumped on the train just as the little worker blew his whistle and shut the doors. By this point I looked like I had jumped into a pool which was really attractive, but we made it!
After that little adventure, the rest of our travels was smooth sailing. We got into London about 8am and had the whole day to enjoy the city. It was Friday morning during rush hour when we arrived and I don't think I have ever seen so many people in suits and ties! Those Londoners are definitely all about business. I fit right in with a messenger purse around my chest, a plaid shirt and capris, and a duffle bag that I fashioned as a backpack by putting my arms through the handles. Oh well, if I really am a tourist, why not look like one?
We don't have access to the printer at our institute except for certain hours, so we used my hand-drawn map to find our way - needless to say we got a bit lost. After about a half hour though we found our way to the hotel which was literally a block away from the famous Tower Bridge and we got a full apartment with a kitchen and living room! Living like queens in London. Perfect :)
Although we had been up since five, we went out and explored the whole day; we were in London for heaven's sake! No time for resting. We did the same Saturday and took full advantage of the lovely weather - I got tan AND sunburned in LONDON - by being out all day. Here are some highlights and stories from the trip:
1) They were getting ready for the 2012 Summer Olympics and doing a total cleaning/transformation of the city. The Underground was spotless and everywhere they already did was all spiffed up and amazing, but otherwise caused a whole lot of traffic and mess- I had to use my map skills to find different metro routes multiple times and must admit I did a pretty fine job. I should be a cartographer.
2) I'm a tense bit (aka majorly) obsessed with the royal wedding/will and kate/the british monarchy/the british in general, and all I wanted from this trip was one of those wonderful British flags with the heart-shaped picture of Will and Kate on it that everyone was waving around on April 29th. I thought for sure I'd be able to find it at one of the little side stands they have all around, but they were nowhere to be found! I was so devastated. We got to another stand about halfway through the day and I grumpily looked up at it and mumbled something mean under my breath when Emily said "is that what you were looking for?" I looked up and there it was waving in the wind!! I was ESTATIC. I ran (literally started jogging) up to the stand and said I'll one of those please! I asked how much it was, not caring what he said because I was going to buy it anyways, and he said £10. I didn't think anything of it and just ranted to him about how I'd been looking for this everywhere and how happy I was. I felt so accomplished and was walking around with my head held high, holding my prized flag. This was until literally the next 10 stores we passed had the same flags. For £2. 2! I was totally talken advantage of and I was so nice to him! It also dawned on me that £10 is in fact not 10 dollars, but about $16, and I bought two of the darn things. Yep, I spent $32 on cheap flags. But, I love them so much that I'm alright with it :)
3) This is my third time being in London and every darn time the queen is not in Buckingham Palace. All those visits probably added up to about a week and not one day was the queen in residence. This trip she was there the day before and left the morning we got there. Come on! It's so disappointing seeing the British flag waving above the palace instead of the royal flag - I need to have a chat with her about her too frequent visits to Windsor castle...
4) My love for England makes me worry that back in the day I might have been a royalist. I'm all about America and love that I am an American, but I just have some doubts about my Colonial era self
5) I want to find out the story behind those big black hats-they sure weren't going for practicality. I'm thinking Marge Simpson impersonators.
6) Seeing the entrance to Westminster Abbey and being inside the church made me instantly feel warm and fuzzy inside. I got chills and it made me so happy. I got to see first-hand all where all the magic of the royal wedding happened! It was magical. I had a dorky half grin on my face the rest of the day.
7) So I realized during this trip that our mighty American dollars really aren't worth that much. London completely drained my bank account. I took out £100 from an ATM and it took $164 out of my bank account without an transaction fees! That's almost 2 to 1! What happened America...
8) Fact: fish and chips really are delicious in London
9) To end our trip with a bang we decided to see Les Mis on the West End!! It was SO much fun and I just couldn't go to London without seeing a Broadway show for my mom. We got super cheap tickets for only £15 (what a steal right? Go straight to the box office the day of for tickets - they're the cheapest)BUT they were "very limited view" so I had a lovely railing in front of me that blocked the entire stage if I were to sit properly in my seat. No worries though! As long as I leaned forward on the ledge the whole time, I could see the entire stage really well with only a few cricks in my back and both legs asleep by the end: a price I'm willing to pay for such a good play! Only drawback was they sang EVERY word. There was no normal talking even between songs. Every once in a while I would think: just talk to the darn person! Then I started to think how it would be kind of fun if we went a whole day just singing our conversations and that happy thought made me less annoyed.
So, all in all, like all my other trips, London was awesome! I can't decide if Paris (with a real Paris apartment, the best host ever and a charming city) or London was better. I suppose I don't need to officially decide, but I might have to give London the edge. I just can't help how much I love the royals and seeing all of that in person was amazing. Not only was Westminster Abbey home to the royal wedding, but also hosted the coronations for every British monarch for the past 1000 years, act as the resting place for the most notable Brits (including Queen Elizabeth I, Jane Austen, and Isaac Newton), and hosted Princess Diana's funeral. London just has so much living history that I find so fascinating. I just can't get enough of this place.
Well, after the fastest month of my life, my last week is finally here! It's a bit bitter sweet because I was just getting into the swing of things at work and living here, but I'm excited to come back to the glorious US of A! It's been a fun ride, but I suppose I should come back to reality. Chip chip cheerio!
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